Input Help

How to set up and use Input. In Input, Ask Input answers from this page too.

How to use Input

Input doesn't replace Mail, Slack or Messages: they keep all your mail and messages, and you can still use them as before. Input is a productivity tool that brings them into one place, so you focus on what matters and never miss what counts. For anything Input doesn't do, Command-O opens the conversation in its own app.

1. Start with Important. Go from the top. Reply, or press Done (Archive on email) when there's nothing to do. Each finished card leaves the list.
2. Can't handle it now? Snooze it to a better time. It comes back unread, near the top.
3. Then scan Everything else. Most of it can wait or needs nothing.
4. Something in the wrong tab? Move it to Important. Input remembers, and learns how you sort.
5. Nothing else needs you? Right-click the Everything else tab and choose Mark All as Read.
6. Once a day, check Waiting for answers you're still expecting. Nudge drafts a gentle follow-up.

Tip: you can do it all from the keyboard. Arrows move between cards, R replies, Y marks done.

Getting started

Add an account to see your messages. The Welcome card at the top of Important helps you finish setup.

How do I add accounts? Add them one at a time:

1. Open Settings > Accounts > Add Account.
2. Choose Found on this Mac for each Apple Mail account, Messages or Calendar. Or choose Slack..., Reading (IMAP)... or Sending (SMTP)....

What does the Welcome card track? Its rows turn into check marks: Your accounts, What your accounts need from macOS (only when an account you added is missing a permission), Contacts and AI. Apple's model on your Mac needs no key. The card hides when setup is done, or choose Hide.

Why allow access? Full Disk Access lets Input read Messages and Apple Mail where they store messages. Allow it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access. Calendar access shows today's meetings. Contacts access shows names. Control Mail and Messages lets Input send, mark read and archive through those apps.

How do I set up AI? In Settings > Agent, add your own Anthropic, OpenAI or xAI key, or choose Apple's on-device model. Without AI, plain rules sort your messages.

How do I connect Slack? Choose Add Account > Slack... to sign in through Slack's page. For new messages to appear at once, add an app token in Settings > Accounts > your Slack account, following the steps on that page.

Adding a Gmail account

Input reads Gmail over IMAP and sends over SMTP. It uses a Google app password, a 16-letter password Google makes for one app. Your Google password never goes into Input. 2-Step Verification must be on in your Google account.

1. Make an app password. Open myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, signed in to the Google account you're adding. Check the picture at the top right: another account is a common mix-up. Name it "Input", click Create, and copy the 16 letters.
2. Add the account. In Input, open Settings (Command-,) > Accounts > Add Account > Reading (IMAP).
3. Fill it in. Type your Gmail address and paste the app password without spaces. For an @gmail.com address, the server fills in by itself. For a Google Workspace company address, use imap.gmail.com, port 993.
4. Connect. Click Save and test. "Signed in. Nothing was read yet." means it worked. If it fails, check that the password comes from the same Google account and has no spaces.
5. Send too. On the account page, click Add SMTP for this account. It uses the same password.

Mail appears within a minute. A copy of recent mail stays on this Mac only, and the password is kept in the macOS Keychain.

Sending from another address? Set it up in Gmail first, under Settings > Accounts and Import > Send mail as. Then add it in Input under the sending account's Also sends as.

How Input sorts

Important holds conversations that need your attention soon. Everything else holds those that can wait. Both tabs have counters.

What belongs in each tab? Direct questions, people waiting on you and anything time-sensitive or tied to a meeting go in Important. Newsletters, notifications, receipts and FYI messages go in Everything else. When unsure, Input chooses Important.

Why is a card here? Plain rules make a first pass. With AI on, Input sorts each new conversation, and every card shows Why here.

Want to move a card? On an open card, choose Not important or Important, or right-click > Move to Everything Else (or Move to Important). Input keeps your choice for that conversation, learns from it and sorts that sender's other cards again. Your corrections follow you to your other Macs.

What does the dot mean? A filled dot means unread in the original app. A ring means read. Reading a card never moves it. The color identifies the address or account it reached you through. Set colors in Settings > Appearance.

Can I unsubscribe? Unsubscribe appears between Archive and Snooze when an email offers it. It follows the sender's unsubscribe method, then archives the email.

Your day

Today's meetings appear in the left column, with the next one highlighted. Use the card controls to finish work or set it aside.

Ready for a meeting? A meeting with a video link gets a Join button 10 minutes before it starts. Switch calendars off in Settings > Accounts > Calendar.

Finished with a card? Choose Done or press Y. For email, the button reads Archive and also archives the email. For Slack, it marks the message read. For Messages, it finishes the card in Input.

Want to come back later? Snooze sets a card aside until a time you pick, from 30 minutes to tomorrow morning. It returns unread near the top.

Waiting for an answer? Waiting lists conversations where you wrote last and expect a reply, for 14 days. The age turns orange when overdue. You can correct it on the card. Nudge drafts a follow-up.

Where are unfinished replies? Drafts keeps them and syncs them to your other Macs. Press Command-S to save a new message there.

Want fewer cards or arrival sounds? Unread Only (Command-T) hides read cards. Set an arrival sound for each tab in Settings > Appearance.

Writing

The reply box sits at the bottom of an open card. Press R to reply, A to reply all or F to forward.

How do I send? In Messages and Slack, Return sends and Shift-Return adds a line. For email, choose Send or press Shift-Command-D.

Want help drafting? Draft with AI, the sparkles button, writes a reply using any words you typed as guidance. Press Command-Return to use it. Command-Z right afterward brings your text back.

Want help formatting? In email and Slack, Format with AI adds lists and bold and fixes spelling while preserving your wording.

1. Hold Shift-Command to turn the sparkles into a wand, then click it. Or press Shift-Command-Return or Shift-Command-T.
2. Review the message as it will arrive. Click to edit, or press Command-Z to undo.

Adding pictures or a signature? Paste or drop pictures into the reply box. Set signatures in Settings > Signatures.

Need to undo a send? Undo send in Settings > General holds emails for 5 seconds. Press Command-Z during that time to bring one back.

Prefer the original app? Command-O opens the conversation in its own app with your reply.

Ask Input

The box at the bottom searches your mail, Messages and Slack together. Press Command-K or Command-F to use it.

Looking for something specific? Use Gmail-style search words: from:, to:, subject:, has:attachment, is:unread, after:, before:, newer_than: and older_than:. Put exact phrases in quotation marks.

Can I ask a question? Try "what did Lili say about the contract?" Input searches, answers in a sentence or two and marks the results it used. Questions need AI; without it, Ask Input searches your exact words.

What about my calendar? Ask "when am I free next Wednesday?" Input answers from your calendar and shows that day.

Need help with Input? Ask a question about the app. Input answers from this Help, with Open in Help to read more.

Where do results appear? Results get their own tab. Press Escape to close them. You can Archive or Restore an email from the results.

Keyboard

Use these keys to move through cards and handle messages. Find the full list in Help > Keyboard Shortcuts (Command-/).

Moving around?

Handling a card?

Writing a message?

Searching and more?

Privacy

Input reads Mail and Messages from their own databases on your Mac. It keeps a copy of recent Gmail on this Mac only. Your messages never go to a server of Input's: input-app.com only handles updates, the Slack sign-in (nothing kept) and support emails you choose to send.

What does AI receive? If you use Anthropic, OpenAI or xAI, that provider receives only what each feature needs:

• Sorting: each message's sender, where it was said, subject and first 500 characters, plus today's meetings.
• Learning from you: the last messages you moved, so it sorts the way you do.
• Drafts: the conversation.
• Format with AI: the text you're formatting.
• Waiting: your last message and the one before it.
• Ask Input: your question and excerpts of the best results.
• Calendar questions: your question and the titles, times and attendees for those days.
• Help questions: your question and this Help.

Apple's on-device model keeps everything on your Mac.

Can AI act on its own? It sorts and suggests, but never acts in your apps: sending, archiving or deleting always needs your click.

Where are credentials stored? Passwords, tokens and keys stay in the macOS Keychain.

What syncs between Macs? Settings, corrections, drafts and snoozes sync through the Input folder in your iCloud Drive. Passwords never sync this way. Turn syncing off in Settings > General > Sync with iCloud.

What goes into a problem report? Report a Problem adds details about your Mac, never your messages. You send the report yourself.

When something is off

Missing something? Press Command-R to check every account now. Look in Everything else, and check that Unread Only (Command-T) isn't hiding it. Ask Input, the search box at the bottom, searches all your mail and messages.

Seeing "not checked since" near the tabs? Input couldn't reach that account for 10 minutes, so its cards may be out of date. It's usually the network or an expired sign-in. Command-R tries again.

Gmail refuses your password? The app password must come from the same Google account and be typed without spaces. If you removed it in Google, make a new one, then use Change in Settings > Accounts.

Messages or Apple Mail missing? Input needs Full Disk Access. Turn Input on in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access. In Input, Settings > Accounts shows each account's permissions, with a Fix button.

Want to see what Input did? Open the Journal with Command-J. It lists what Input checked and sent, with any errors, and never your messages.

Still stuck? Choose Help > Report a Problem. Input prepares an email to support with details about your Mac, never your messages. You read it and send it.

Contact support

Questions, problems and ideas are all welcome. A person reads every message.

From Input? Choose Help > Report a Problem. Input opens an email to support, ready to send. Two chips under it add details that help: Mac details (Input's version, macOS, your Mac, the kinds of accounts you use, recent errors) and, when there is one, the latest Freeze report. Click a chip to leave it out. Your messages are never included.

By email? Write to support@input-app.com from any address.

What helps? Say what you did, what you expected and what happened instead. A screenshot helps too.

What happens next? You get an automatic reply saying your message arrived. Then a person answers.